Student Winner

Consumer Product Award

Core77 Design Awards 2017

At-home film development made easy

KANTON DX35 is a smart home solution to develop colour as well as black and white film without the need of a darkroom — simple, safe and quick. It combines precise chemical heating and automated film agitation in a single device, all set up and ready to go in 20 min. No more water-bath is required neither do wet bottles occur and only half of the amount of chemicals used in the typical developing process is needed. The daylight tank allows users to put in 35 mm film in bright light conditions. The automated agitation ensures a steady developing process and eliminates the risk of faulty images. In addition to 35 mm also type 120 films can be handled which allows the usage for professional photographers.

Developing films at home is time consuming and the outcome is highly unreliable, especially for colour film material when the chemicals must be set to a temperature of ± 0,1°C. You need a dark place, a developing tank and several chemicals that you have to heat in your sink or on a stove which is not precise and also inconvenient. After everything is set, the tank has to be continually agitated under water in order to get good results.

Kanton simplifies the whole process and allows amateurs and professionals to pursue their passion of analog photography at home. You simply adjust the reel according to the film format, put in the film, select a setting from the database or do a manual input and wait for the chemicals to reach the desired temperature. After 20 minutes, the heating process has finished and you will get notified to pour in the chemicals into the tank, back into the bottle and rinse the film with tap water. After the process has finished you can take the developed negative out of the reel, and use the hangers provided in the compartment of the station to hang it up to dry. Kanton ensures steady results and an intuitive handling without the need of any previous knowledge.

To continue working with your perfectly developed negatives, a small scanner provides you with the possibility to digitalise the images for online posts or small printouts. An integrated knife system allows precise, fast and easy film cutting in order for safe storing.

Currently I am in touch with manufacturers and companies to develop a market-ready solution that is both convenient and affordable.